In copper dump leaching, run-of-mine ore is irrigated with acidic leaching solution to generate aqueous cupric ions for further processing. The very large size of the ore particles being leached, as much as two meters in diameter, should preclude any significant metal recovery. Dump leaching should not work; and yet it does. This study investigated the leaching of coarse-sized copper sulphide ore, with top sizes ranging from 150 to 250 mm. The simulated run-of-mine ore sizes were leached for more than six months. The data collected from these experiments included particle size distributions before and after leaching, copper distributions by size before and after leaching, and leaching kinetics at various irrigation rates. The results showed that leaching causes particle breakage. That breakage results in a continuous generation of fines and a continuous supply of fresh mineral surfaces for leaching. Dump leaching can be explained by a mechanism of breakage and fines generation. The rate of copper leaching in dumps is a product of the rate of fines generation and the rate of leaching of the fines.

在铜场浸出中，原矿用酸性浸出液灌溉，生成含水铜离子以供进一步加工。被浸出的矿石颗粒尺寸非常大，直径可达两米，应该排除任何显着的金属回收。倾倒浸出应该不起作用；但它确实如此。本研究调查了粗粒硫化铜矿石的浸出情况，最大粒径范围为 150 至 250 毫米。模拟的原矿尺寸浸出超过六个月。从这些实验中收集的数据包括浸出前后的粒度分布、浸出前后铜的尺寸分布以及不同灌溉速率下的浸出动力学。结果表明，浸出会导致颗粒破碎。这种破碎会导致细粉不断产生，并不断供应新鲜的矿物表面以进行浸出。倾倒浸出可以用破碎和细粉产生的机制来解释。废铜浸出率是细粉生成率和细粉浸出率的乘积。